The Bush administration won rare praise for its diplomacy on Iraq yesterday as plans for an international conference on stabilising the country gathered pace, with Syria and Iran indicating they would participate.

"Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, even the US and Britain have informed us they will participate," the Iraqi deputy foreign minister, Labi Abawi, told reporters in Baghdad.

Publicly, Iranian officials said only that Tehran was weighing up its participation in the meeting, which will take place on March 10 in Baghdad.We support solving problems of Iraq by all means and we will attend the conference if it is expedient," Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s supreme national security council, told state television. "We believe Iraq’s security is related to all its neighbouring countries, and they have to help settle the situation.

Officials in Damascus confirmed Syria’s participation and said it would be represented by Ahmed Arnous, an aide to the foreign minister .

The administration’s abrupt decision to end its isolation of Iran and Syria and give its support to a conference hosted by Baghdad on stabilising Iraq was welcomed.

"It’s a very important and a very positive first step to take a diplomatic offensive," Lee Hamilton, one of the chairs of the Iraq Study Group, told National Public Radio. [more]